Learning Resources

POP vs. IMAP

When deciding how to access your Google Apps services, our initial
recommendation would be to use the Google Apps interface, with access to email,
calendars, documents and your websites from a single, easy to use
location.However, if you want to set
up a mail client using POP or IMAP with Gmail, we recommend IMAP, and here’s
why:

POP (Post Office Protocol) downloads new messages from mail servers
onto your computer or mobile device, using programs like MicroSoft Outlook or Mozilla
Thunderbird (commonly known as “mail clients”.)This download method is known as “popping” mail.One benefit of using POP is that you have
access to emails when you are off-line because messages are downloaded and
stored locally on your computer or other devices.

However, using POP is not well suited to multiple devices, for
instance, at work, at home, or on your mobile phone, since they can get out of
sync when new messages are downloaded to one device, but not the other. Things
you do on your local device have no effect on the server. You may be frustrated
by the fact that any action you take on your device, such as reading, sorting,
or deleting, doesn’t sync with your Gmail account.You may have read and sorted all new mail on
your phone, for example, but when you log back in to Gmail using a browser, you
see a full inbox of unread messages that must be read and re-organized.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) provides access to email that
remains on the mail server, and a better method to access your mail from
multiple devices. If you check your email at work, on your mobile phone, and
again at home, IMAP ensures that mail is accessible from any device at any
given time, provided you have Internet access. You are viewing the same email configuration
on the server, and actions like reading, storing, or deleting mail happen in
real time, regardless of the access device.